Green River Mishap (This incident occurred in 1997 & was written by Katie when she was 12) aka: Super Heros by Katie Gustafson. Typed in Sept 2007.

I’m writing about this because I really want some memory that I really remember, not a memory of a memory even though this will be a memory on paper. But not a memory of a memory in my head.

Everybody on the raft was Melissa, Grandpa (Monte Skinner), Chris, Jesse, Taylor, Ricardo, Jon and me. We had flipped around on a rock so we were going back-first. Grandpa had yelled to Chris when we got to a clearing to turn the raft back around. We were about half way around when we hit a rock sideways. We started turning off the rock, then the left side of the raft, not hitting the rock, sank. Grandpa fell off and we all knew we were in trouble. Seconds later Taylor fell off. Thank God, Grandpa wanted Melissa on the raft. She told me to just drop the sweep, so I did. We looked on shore and Amy (Warren – Katie’s aunt) asked if we had any push poles since my feet were dangling in the glacier water. I felt for them with my feet. We didn’t have any and the water was so fast we couldn’t do anything with them anyway.

Melissa had Jon hold onto me and I held onto Chris who was sturdily on the raft. I couldn’t feel my legs as if I were walking. So, we started to prop my legs up on the tripod that held up the sweep. Tom, on shore, took numerous pictures of the crisis. When we were propping up my feet Jon slipped off the raft and let go of me. Though I was so close to the tripod my left leg got wedged between the tripod and the raft surface. The water was so fast and forceful I was pushed underwater. The thought, ‘I’m going to die’, rushed through my head over and over. ‘I don’t want to die by suffocating’ I also thought after 25 seconds of being under. I gathered the strength to stick my left arm out from the surface of the water. I felt everyone, or close to it, grab my arm and pull me up. I came up screaming and gasping for air because while I was under I drank a massive amount of water plus I was screaming because of my left leg. About every 30 seconds a big wave would come over my head. Melissa had to put her hand in front of my mouth so I couldn’t swallow anymore water.

People on shore tried many times to get the rope to us. But right before they tried Jesse got around me and held me up from the river. In the middle of the attempt for the people on shore to get the rope to us I had gone under water again by a forceful wave. When I was under water I remembered the people yelling to me and Melissa, telling me to relax. So, instead of struggling I relaxed and I guess my hand went limp. Chris told me it was the most frightening thing that ever happened to him. Then I gripped his hand again tightly and he jerked me up. Then Kevin (Warren – her uncle) just walked straight through the powerful river and got the rope to us and placed it on the top of the tripod. Bryn wadded out to the raft. I don’t know what to do, but maybe to help us back to shore.

On shore I saw the truck move and the whole time Jesse beside me told me we would be out soon and back at camp. I kept asking, “Really?” and he reassured me every time. When I saw the truck move my heart filled with joy, but then it stopped. I was a little disappointed but then I saw Tom Rose make a clover hitch and hook it to the tail hitch. I saw this all in slow motion. The truck moved again. The rope tightened and the raft moved. Brian and Melissa brought (it around) with the sweep. The whole raft resurfaced and I was sobbing and couldn’t move anything but my arms.

Melissa screamed, “Her leg’s stuck! Get it out!” Jesse gently moved my leg and it was free. Brian and Melissa picked me up and brought me halfway up the hill and stripped me down to my swimsuit. Amy asked me who she was and I replied, “My Aunt Amy.” Then I said, “My thighs hurt – pointing to my hamstrings. Amy and Melissa brought me to Amy and Kevin’s truck. Then Melissa hugged me and said I was her hero. They got me into a couple jackets, wrapped me in a sleeping bag and seatbelted me in. At the time I was hypothermic and I had excruciating pain when I tried to move or be moved. Kevin drove me back to our set-up camp beside the river. I got back to camp and Amy made me some hot tea. Kevin drove me over to the cook tent with the heat blasting. Everybody arrived in the bus. I rolled down my window and hugged Jesse, Tom, Emily, etc.

That night my sleeping bag was soaked by rain during the day, so I slept in Grandpa’s sleeping bag in the cook tent with Tara. Since my leg was freezing and had hardly any blood circulation, I couldn’t walk normally for 3 days.

That feels great, getting it off my chest and now I can remember/read a true memory of this almost tragedy.

I would like to dedicate this to all my heros – 28 of them – but ones that played a main part were Jesse, Chris, Melissa, Jon, Ricardo, Tom Rose, Kevin, Don plus everybody else that I’m forgetting. (signed) Katie Gustafson